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/t116011- ?4 fin 37 <br /> October 22, 2016 <br /> i LANoiii i :�, v\r-i I t''lENT <br /> PO Box 199 COUN I Y OF HAWAII <br /> Hakakalau, HI 96710 <br /> Farrah-Marie Gomes, Vice Chair <br /> Hamakua CDP Steering Committee <br /> do Hawaii County Planning Department <br /> Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 <br /> Hilo, HI 96720 <br /> RE: Hakalau Point, Option 3 <br /> Vice Chair Gomes and Members of the Hamakua CDP Steering Committee: <br /> I'm Ken Forbes from Hakalau speaking in favor of Option 3 for Open Space in Hakalau. <br /> First a point about why I'm here. The CDP invites the community to express itself about what <br /> they want for land use in the future. I think this Hakalau land should be preserved from <br /> development so I have been saying that. I do it understanding that we community members are <br /> not in the driver's seat. I'm just following what I understand as the spirit of the CDP, which is <br /> that the community's views deserve a place in the land use planning process. <br /> We have been saying that preservation of this Hakalau Point land is a very common, even <br /> prevailing, community viewpoint. I quickly mention again two main points: 1) community input to <br /> the Hamakua CDP about"discouraging coastal bluff development." A common focus. 2)The <br /> community of Hakalau (the place, not the zip code) is almost unanimously in favor of preserving <br /> this land from development. <br /> I'd like to mention an idea that competes with this view. It's the idea that a vote for developing <br /> this land beside the bluff beside the Bay is a vote for"revitalizing" Hakalau; that it's a necessary <br /> part of making it a town again, as it should be. All due respect to any who really feel that way, I <br /> don't have that view, and, more importantly, it's a view that's almost nonexistent in the Hakalau <br /> community. The community view is as I have stated. It's my observation that we do have an <br /> idea of growth but it's community growth—doing a better job of reaching out to each other and <br /> participating in projects and such as that. <br /> Finally, a word about Ag as it relates to this land. I think it should go without saying that the <br /> great majority of Hamakua residents understand the importance of Ag on the coast and want to <br /> support it. So do we. But I think that what happens in the long term to land such as this is also <br /> important. So the natural question for us is whether this land is a necessary place or even the <br /> preferred place for growing industry in the future, whether ag-related or brewery or otherwise. <br /> Please consider Option 3 simply because, from my understanding, it does represent the <br /> prevailing community view. <br /> Sincerely, <br /> Ken Forbes <br /> Hakalau <br /> 108197 <br />